Slaying God: I, the insane and witty god

Chapter 789: Defeat the enemy in front of the moonlight window, encounter the gate of guidance in th

As the morning mist seeped in through the window lattice, a thin layer of sweat condensed on Wang Mian's bronze mask.

He held half of the breastplate in his hand, the metal edge causing his palm to go numb.

Like a fine needle piercing into memory - the last night training of the Blue Rain team ten years ago,

He was hit in the chest by his teammate's breastplate, and the other party's red eyes and shouting "Come back alive" suddenly became horrifyingly clear.

"Are you sure those old guys in the Onmyoji Bureau will believe that Susanoo wants to swallow up the Eighteenth Squad?"

His voice was muffled in the mask, and his fingertips rubbed the old scar on the breastplate.

"Ten years ago, they mistook our distress signals for the sounds of monsters, but now they can fool them with just half a mirror?"

Wu Xiangnan was tying the broken sword around his waist when he paused.

His shorts were lifted by the mountain wind, revealing the half of the Blue Rain team logo on his waist.

The rusted metal gleamed coldly in the mist. "Because they're afraid."

When he turned around, the scar on his face tugged, "I'm afraid Susanoo will really wake up."

"I'm afraid that the power of the Divine Court will be unstable, and even more afraid... that someone will dare to kill the gods as if they were human beings."

He grabbed the book "Supplement to the Laws of the Divine Court" from the table and said, "Did you see the bloody paper inside this book?

It was scratched out by the captain of the 18th team with his fingernails before his death three years ago - Susanoo's vital point is not in his godhood, but in the living people he has devoured.

Wang Mian’s breathing became heavier.

The Adam's apple beneath the mask moved, and he thought of the extinguished bronze lamp in the broken tower of the Divine Court last night.

The blood-stained words "Holding the knife and fire, the sky can be broken" floated in the lamp oil.

It turns out that Wu Xiangnan had been collecting these scraps for a long time.

Just like collecting firewood in the fishing village back then, he added firewood piece by piece to the fire.

"Even if we can lure away the Onmyoji, Susanoo's divine flame..." Before Wang Mian finished speaking, Wu Xiangnan had already laughed.

He took out a piece of charred cloth from his arms, and Wang Mian's pupils shrank slightly - it was the corner of the Blue Rain team's flag.

The last palm-sized piece left after being burned by the monster's flames ten years ago.

"Back when we were trapped in the crater, you said the divine flame could burn through everything."

Wu Xiangnan pressed the piece of cloth on the breastplate.

"But look, this piece of cloth burned in the divine flames for three days and three nights, and what's left is... our names carved into the flag."

He ran his fingertips across the scorch marks on the cloth, "The divine flame can burn flesh and bones, but it can't burn the fire in a living person's heart.

What you planted was not fire, but Blue Rain, the Eighteenth Team,

It is all those who are used as firewood by God—they must personally burn this fire into a new heaven in God’s heart.

Wang Mian suddenly reached out and pulled off the bronze mask.

In the morning mist, the red mole at the corner of his eye looked like a drop of blood about to fall.

Ten years ago, while warming myself by the fire in a fishing village,

Wu Xiangnan always said that his mole looked like a red bean dipped in sugar, but now it was so red that it seemed to be bleeding.

"You're crazy," he said, his voice hoarse as sandpaper scraping against iron.

“But I’m going to go crazy with you.”

Wu Xiangnan's smile lines appeared at the corners of his eyes.

He picked up the candy wrapper butterfly on the table and gently put the ancient book back into Wang Mian's arms: "You said that this candy was too sweet."

“Now I understand—what’s sweet isn’t the candy, but the day when someone is willing to leave a piece of candy for you.”

He turned and walked towards the door. The mountain wind blew in mist, making the broken sword jingle. "Tell me, what do you want from Takama-ga-hara?"

“I’ll help you grab it.”

Wang Mian stared down at his reflection in the breast mirror.

There was a thin layer of mist floating on the mirror, blurring his eyebrows and eyes, but clearly reflecting the half piece of candy wrapper butterfly in his arms.

He thought of the bloody words he saw in the broken tower last night, and of the moment the bronze lamp lit up again.

New words emerged from the lamp oil - "The living will watch over the new sky for the dead."

"I want... the Blue Rain team bell," he said.

"When the volcano collapsed ten years ago, the old captain stuffed it into the interlayer of my breastplate.

Later, the heart-protecting mirror shattered, and the bell fell into the divine flame.

"For years I've dreamed of it ringing, as if it were saying...it's time to go home."

Wu Xiangnan's hands were on the door frame, and he didn't move with his back to him.

Wang Mian saw his shoulders tremble slightly, just like when he heard the team bell ringing in the fishing village.

"Okay." Wu Xiangnan said, his voice a little muffled.

"After you chop off the god's head, I'll accompany you to the divine flames."

He turned his face to the side, his scar tinged with a pale pink in the mist. "But let me make it clear first—the road into Takama-ga-hara isn't easy."

Wang Mian put on the bronze mask again.

The coolness of the mask against his skin reminded him of the old captain's hand touching his face before he died.

He picked up the "Supplement to the Laws of the Divine Court" on the table. The tea stains on the cover spread out in the mist, like a flower that was about to bloom.

"How do I get in?" he asked.

Wu Xiangnan didn't answer.

He looked at the rolling fog outside the window, and in the distance he could hear the crows crowing, each one louder and louder.

The morning bell at the foot of the mountain rang again, and this time Wang Mian heard it clearly - the bell sound was mixed with the very light vibration of the copper bell.

It looked like someone was shaking something, coming towards here from the other side of the horizon.

"Wait until the moon is at its highest point in the sky," Wu Xiangnan said. "You'll see it."

Wang Mian's knuckles scratched white marks on the edge of the breastplate: "How do I get in?"

Wu Xiangnan didn't answer immediately.

He walked to the window, and the mist covered the rust on the Blue Rain team logo on his waist, like an old knife dipped in water.

"Ten years ago, when the Yamata-no-Orochi was wreaking havoc in the sea, I once followed its tail and slipped in."

He lowered his voice, as if he was afraid of waking something up.

"The snake swallowed seven islands, and the Divine Court was anxious to seal the sea eye with the receiving gate—but the teleportation array opened at the wrong coordinates."

"It swept me in along with the snake's tail."

There was a sound of gasps from under Wang Mian's mask.

He remembered the day when Yamata no Orochi was beheaded, the Divine Court reported that "the demon snake destroyed itself in the deep sea", and it turned out that there were still some survivors that year.

"The door to Takama-ga-hara isn't in the sky." When Wu Xiangnan turned around, a dark blue like the deep sea appeared in his eyes.

"It sank to the bottom of the sea and was brought out with the sacrifice of a living person."

"The lintel is engraved with 'God has mercy on all living things,' but beneath the door lie bones denser than the fish in Tokyo Bay."

He touched the broken sword at his waist,

"I hid inside the door for three days, watching the divine messenger throw young boys and girls into the teleportation array—they said they were attracting spirits, but in reality, they were feeding the door's lock with human blood."

Wang Mian suddenly clenched the "Supplement to the Laws of the Divine Court" in his arms.

The edge of the book pricked my chest, like the force the old captain had used when he'd jammed the bell into my chest. "So you're using the Blue Rain bell as a key?"

Wu Xiangnan did not deny it.

He looked out the window at the increasingly urgent cawing of crows, and his voice suddenly dropped. "That gate doesn't recognize godhood, it recognizes resentment."

"Back then, the Yamata no Orochi swallowed so many islands, and its resentment caused the teleportation array to spin wildly - what we need to do is..."

"It's about letting Susanoo's resentment break open the gates of the Shintei."

Before he finished speaking, a thunderous vibration suddenly came from the direction of the sea horizon.

The window paper cracked with a loud "crash", and Wang Mian saw a flash of silver in the mist, like some huge monster surging under the water.

At the same time, in the deep sea thousands of miles away.

Wu Hen's back was against the slippery scales of the whale, and he was suddenly thrown off balance by a huge force.

He reached out and pressed the bone spur on his side.

When she turned around, she met Lin Qiye's gaze - the other person's pupils were glowing light gold, a sign of spiritual consciousness being released.

"Merlin is awake." Lin Qiye said briefly.

As soon as he finished speaking, a crisp sound like glass breaking came from deep within the whale's abdomen.

The figure of the white-haired old man emerged from the blood mist, his fingertips still stained with drier whale blubber.

He glanced at Wu Hen and Jia Lan, his usual faint smile playing on his lips: "I'm sorry for keeping you stuck in the whale's belly for three days."

“It’s time to go ashore.”

Wu Hen touched the God-Slaying Sword at his waist.

The scabbard felt hot against my skin, a sign of danger. "Japanese waters?"

"Clever." Merlin snapped his fingers.

The whale suddenly trembled violently, a bloody wound appeared on its back, and the salty sea breeze wrapped in the waves rushed in.

When Wu Hen was dragged onto the whale's back by Lin Qiye, salt water was dripping down his eyelashes.

The distant horizon looked like a crumpled gray cloth, with a layer of lingering fog floating on it.

"There's something wrong with that fog." Galan's snake tail slapped the whale's back, and the splashing water condensed into ice beads in the air.

"The spiritual pressure is thicker than the Bermuda Triangle."

Wu Hen narrowed his eyes.

He saw bronze reflections in the fog, like some giant door opening.

After the four of them moved forward twenty steps along the whale's back, the object finally became clear - it was two bronze doors that were a hundred meters high.

The lintel was carved with a totem of the Yamata no Orochi coiling around the sun, and the doorposts were wrapped with chains as thick as wrists, each section of the chain engraved with bloody words.

"The Gate of Reception." Merlin's voice suddenly became deep.

His fingertips traced across the floating light particles in the air. "The teleportation array in Takama-ga-hara hasn't been opened for three hundred years."

Wu Hen's God-Slaying Sword made a soft "humming" sound.

He could feel the door sucking his blood, as if countless invisible hands were pulling him inside.

Lin Qiye's knuckles pressed against his lower back, and a steady warmth came from them. "Who opened this?"

"Not a human." Merlin raised his hand, and a golden light shone into the bloody words on the side of the door.

Suddenly, there was a roar of breaking iron chains from inside the door. Wu Hen saw the surging black fog behind the door.

There was a faint bronze lamp floating in the distance - exactly the same as the one Wang Mian saw in the Broken Tower last night.

"It's a dead person." When Merlin turned around, his white hair was blown by the sea breeze.

“It is those who are used as firewood by God who use their resentment to break open the door lock.”

Wu Hen looked at the door that slowly opened.

The wind blowing out from the door was accompanied by the faint sound of copper bells.

He touched his chest - there was still half of the breastplate that Wang Mian had sent him.

It was incredibly hot at this moment, as if a ball of fire was about to burn through the skin.

Lin Qiye's voice rang in his ears: "Go in?"

"We must go in." Wu Hen tightly gripped the God-Slaying Sword.

The blade reflected the red corners of his eyes, like red beans stained with blood.

"The bell that Wang Men is looking for is inside, and Susanoo's vital point is inside... More importantly -"

He looked at the swirling black fog inside the door, and a cold smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. "The debt owed to the Divine Court must be paid."

The bronze bell inside the bronze door suddenly rang.

Wu Hen saw blood oozing from the snake-eye totem on the door lintel, flowing down the doorpost and forming a river of blood on the sea surface.

A half-charred piece of cloth floated up in the river of blood. The burn marks on it were soaked with blood, and the words "Blue Rain" could be vaguely seen.

Lin Qiye put his hand on his shoulder: "Get ready."

Wu Hen nodded.

He could hear his own heartbeat, ringing along with the bell inside the door, one beat after another, like the beat of a drum.

The distant wail of the whale mixed with the sea breeze filled his ears, and he suddenly remembered what Wang Mian said -

"The living should look after the new heaven for the dead."

And the door to the new heaven is right before our eyes.